


The Dragon and the Lioness

by YoursG



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hurt/Comfort, I have read too much Charmione in past few days, i should be asleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24149605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoursG/pseuds/YoursG
Summary: She had admired him from afar since she was fourteen. It had been a pubescent, school-girl crush back then. His strength and laughter had drawn her in. She glanced at him once again, indulging herself, before she went back to her book.He often found reasons to look at her. After all, how could he resist the sight of her curled up in a corner, lost in the book, sun shining in her wild mane of hair….. And sometimes, if he was really lucky, she would look out of the window wistfully, lost in thought and the sight would make his heart ache. No person should have the right to be so beautiful, he would think.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Charlie Weasley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 81





	The Dragon and the Lioness

**Author's Note:**

> It's just an idea that came to my mind, and I couldn't sleep until I had written it. I was quite sleepy while writing this, so don't really know how good this is, if it is any good at all! Read on and tell me what ya think!!

She had admired him from afar since she was fourteen. It had been a pubescent, school-girl crush back then. His strength and laughter had drawn her in. She glanced at him once again, indulging herself, before she went back to her book.  
Of lately, Hermione had taken to staying at the Burrow. It was the only place that felt like home, anymore. A certain bulky red-head was just an added advantage.  
Someone plopping down beside her brought her back from the book. She glanced to find the object of her fantasy sitting beside her. She offered him a tentative smile before she attempted to go back to the book. And what a pathetic attempt it was!  
Suddenly, she was very aware of the well-built muscles of his arm resting few inches from her neck. His side a hair’s breadth away from herself. If only she leaned back a bit…… She closed her eyes in frustration. It would do her no good to imagine how comfortable and bloody safe she would feel in his arms. It only served to hurt her and no more.  
Charlie Weasley was going to be the death of her.

\-------------------

Charlie Weasley had been in England for past few years. He had realised that he just couldn’t help as much from Romania. He had moved to the Welsh Dragon Reserve.  
The War had taken a lot from them. Thankfully, the Weasley family had survived intact. Just how that had happened, no one knew! But nobody was complaining. One broken family less was one more reason to rejoice.  
Currently, having finished setting the table, he was plopped down beside his favourite bookworm. Not that there was any other bookworm in this house!  
He often found reasons to look at her. After all, how could he resist the sight of her curled up in a corner, lost in the book, sun shining in her wild mane of hair….. And sometimes, if he was really lucky, she would look out of the window wistfully, lost in thought and the sight would make his heart ache. No person should have the right to be so beautiful, he would think.  
She had first caught his eye at Bill’s wedding. She had looked so different than the last time he had seen her. The first thing that he had noticed was her face. He knew right away, somehow, that she was going to do something dangerous. Out of choice, no less. He could never tell how he knew, but he did.  
The next time he had seen her was at Hogwarts in the full throes of the Battle. She had looked like a Goddess of Vengeance and Righteousness about to descend upon the Death Eaters with her wrath. He had seen her when she was the only one to keep her head about, pulling Fred out of the rubble as fast as possible. Performing CPR. Being the reason he was alive.  
After that, he had seen her numerous times, most often at the Burrow. Of lately, she found herself here more frequently than before. She was almost a permanent fixture in their home. And everyone was the happier for that. But he was worried. Somehow, he could feel that there was more than met the eye.  
And right now, sitting beside her, he knew that the book was a façade. Something was occupying her mind. He wished she would lean against him and talk. He would give her some time. But if this went on he was going to talk to her.

\----------------------

Argument with Ron proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Their shouting match could be heard all over the house, even though they pretended not to.  
“For Merlin’s sake, Hermione, it has been four months since the battle. Four. Bloody. Months. And all I hear is ‘I’m not ready, Ron’ or ‘Not now, Ron’. Why do you keep doing this?”  
“Ron, I’ve told you. I don’t want to do this.”  
“What do you mean you don’t want to do this?”  
“I mean, I don’t want to be with you, romantically. You are one of my best friends, and I love you. But I’m not going to lead you on when I know that I won’t be able to be with you.”  
“I see.” His voice was stonier than they’d ever heard before.  
“Ron, I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t…..I just…..”  
“Save your breath, Hermione. I will leave you alone. I thought after everything……”, he broke off abruptly.  
Hermione looked at him blankly as he slammed the door and stomped down the stairs. And every thought that she had held at bay for all this time crashed upon her all at once. Prude. Frigid. Cold. Broken. Used. Words upon words running through her mind.  
And that’s how Charlie found her hours later, sitting numbly staring at the door with unseeing eyes. Not many things scared the Dragon-trainer, but the sight of Hermione looking so utterly broken terrified him.  
He rushed to her side and shook her. She blinked up at him and looked away. He could see the subtle tremors going through her even as she tried to hide them. He cupped his chin and faced her. He said gently, “Speak to me, dragonul meu.”   
His tender tone reverberated through her. And she found herself spilling everything. Every little detail that she hadn’t been able to tell Harry or Ron. Every little fear. Every little worry. Everything.  
And he listened. Eyes flashing with anger as Ron abandoned them. Fists clenching as Bellatrix burned her. Pulling her into his arms when Greyback put his hands on her, abused her. Holding her to his chest when her parents were lost to her forever. Kissing her hair when she had poured every insecurity. Rubbing her back, running his hand through her hair as she sobbed, letting everything wash over her.  
And he marvelled at the strength that this petite witch held in her. It was the one thing that he had always revered above all, in every shape and form. That was what had drawn him to the dragons. The pure, raw strength.

\-----------------------

As the twilight morphed into night, Hermione felt someone shaking her. She opened her bleary eyes. She was bewildered to find herself looking in blue eyes colour of the ocean.   
“What?”, she asked groggily. The someone who had been shaking her chuckled.   
“Hermione, love, get up. It’s time for dinner and everyone is worried about you. You haven’t shown your face to world since your argument with Ron.”   
That alerted her alright. And as the details of the afternoon came back to her, she blushed crimson. She muttered, “Of bloody course!” Unfortunately for her, Charlie heard her.  
“What was that, love?”  
She blushed again, wishing he would stop calling her ‘love’. It did funny things in her belly and made her hope, which she really shouldn’t. “Nothing”, she muttered again.   
“If you say so.” His was amused.  
She shook her head grumbling about bloody Dragon-trainers and their bloody charm. Charlie looked at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. He was relieved and happy to see her coming out of the shell, reverting slowly, but surely, to herself.  
As soon as she was ready to go downstairs, Charlie offered her his arm, “If you will, milady.” Hermione laughed at his antics but took his hand nonetheless. And her hand definitely wasn’t shaking. Nope, not even a little bit.  
Molly brightened upon seeing Hermione coming down. She smothered her in her embrace, “Oh, poor dear. How are you doing? And look at you, you look so drawn. You have to eat. Come on.” She ushered her to the table. Charlie followed her, a soft smile on his face.  
A nudge in the ribs brough him back to the world. He scowled at Bill who was smirking at him. “Didn’t know you had it so bad for our Hermione!”, he spoke in an undertone. His grin widened as Charlie’s scowl deepened.   
“If you tell anyone, you won’t have to wonder how they came to know about your crush on Professor McGonagall, would you?” It was Bill’s turn to scowl.  
“Bugger. Take the fun out of everything, will you?”, Bill groused.  
“I just don’t want anyone teasing the poor girl.”  
“Oh Merlin! You haven’t even snogged and you’re whipped! Who are you and what have you done to Charlie – What Are Witches Compared To Dragons – Weasley?” Charlie merely grinned at this and grabbed a seat beside Hermione before anyone else could.

\---------------------------

Hermione was lost in the book, blissfully unaware of the rest of the world, when something cold and wet hit her square in the face. She set her book aside gently before getting up. She asked in a sugar-coated voice, “Who was that wonderful person who treated me with a snowball?”  
The twins, Harry and Ginny eyed her nervously, not at all liking the determined, mischievous glint in her eyes. Simultaneously, they pointed at Charlie, almost as if it was planned.  
Hermione turned towards him and eyed him. Charlie could not, for the life of him, figure out why the snow insisted on following him wherever he went all day round. Just as he was about to give up on his battle with the snow, he found Hermione shaking with laughter at his predicament.  
“So you find this funny, do you, dragonul meu?” He had a feral glint in his eyes. The look of a dragon about to feast on a lion. And Hermione, wisely, began to sprint away from him while she still had chance. Not that it was any good, for she was being pelted by snowballs while Charlie was hot on her heels. It wasn’t long before he caught up with her.  
He pulled her down with her, as his leg slipped and he tumbled on the ground. He twisted so that he was under her, cushioning the blow. His large frame shielding her small one from the snow.  
Both of them were breathing heavily, laughing with abandon. Hermione chanced a glance at Charlie to find her looking at her with a yet undecipherable look in his eyes. Those beautiful ocean eyes that she had almost drowned in so many times. This time, there was no chance of rescue. His face was tanned, sprayed with freckles. His muscled arms were holding her closer.   
She couldn’t help but lean in. Throwing caution to wind, she caught his lips with hers. She couldn’t help but revel in their soft firmness. His lips moved against hers gently, caressing her. She melted against him, moaning.  
A sudden thought flashed through her mind, whoever said that passionate kisses couldn’t be gentle was an utter fool. The only reason she pulled away was because she couldn’t breathe and nor could he.  
Her eyes were closed as she rested her forehead against his. “Years”, she whispered.  
“Hmm?”  
“I’ve wanted to do this for years”, she confessed, blushing.   
“We could do this for years to come, love, if you want to.”  
“I like the sound of that very much”, she whispered, blushing even more.  
Charlie breathed, “Merlin, you look absolutely delectable when you blush. I have no idea how no one has discovered this before, but I’m not going to complain.”  
“Merlin, Charlie, you mushy idiot, who the heck let you into that Dragon Reserve? Now stop this before we throw up”, a voice interrupted.  
They looked up to find Ginny smirking at them. Hermione buried her face (which vaguely resembled a tomato by this point) in Charlie’s chest, groaning. Meanwhile, Charlie tightened his arms around her and smirked back at Ginny, having fought down his blush.  
“No one asked you to watch, you voyeurs!”, he shot back.  
Bill interrupted, “Well, I’ll just go find Mum then. Merlin knows she’ll start planning your wedding.”  
Charlie gave him a nasty look, muttering about backstabbers and insufferable brothers before getting up with Hermione, who still his her face in his chest. She was mortified at being caught.  
Her voice was muffled by Charlie’s jumper as she said, “Bill, if you tell Molly, then I’ll do something that will make Fleur very displeased with me.”  
Bill gulped before grinning and backing off.  
Charlie whispered in her ear, “Just so we are on the same page, you have agreed to be my girlfriend, right?”  
“Couldn’t say no to such a handsome hunk of a man, could I?”, Hermione whispered back with a newfound boldness.  
Charlie grinned before reaching to hold her hand as they walked towards the Burrow. There would be questions and drama, of course, but they could handle it hand in hand.  
Hermione asked suddenly, “What is dragonul meu?”  
Charlie grinned, “Patience, love. I’ll tell you someday when you’re ready for it.”

**Author's Note:**

> dragonul meu: my dragon (Romanian)   
> So, what do you think? Good, OK, bad, Godawful?? It's a product of reading too much Charmione in too few days!! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!!


End file.
